Heretofore, refuse compactors have had receptacles of parallel sidewall construction and thus suffered from the disadvantage that the compacted refuse was not easily removable from the receptacle. Provision of a flexible bag inside the receptacle, such as suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 3,827,352, has proven to be ineffectual in solving the problem since, generally, such bags are not of sufficient strength to permit lifting of compacted trash from the receptacle. The use of a support sling within a refuse receptacle has similarly proven to be ineffectual since, generally, such slings are cumbersome to use and difficult to store.
Refuse receptacles having tapered sidewalls have been suggested in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,537,390 and 3,727,546.
In the receptacle of the '390 patent, the sidewalls are tapered to converge downwardly. Such an arrangement has the inherent defect that refuse compacted therein wedges tightly against the sidewalls and is difficult to remove.
The receptacle described in the '546 patent has sidewalls tapering divergingly downwardly. The receptacle suffers from the defect, however, that the sleeve member is, in essence, a floating sleeve and tends to rise upwardly due to the downward and outward force of refuse being compacted therein, and from the springback of the compacted refuse. In addition, the sleeve offers no means of removing the compacted refuse from the compactor itself.
Similarly, provision of an outer constant-diameter tube enclosing a sack or bag, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 442,371, suffers from the defect that the springback of compacted refuse causes the bag, sandwiched between the refuse and the outer sleeve, to develop tears or shreds as a consequence of repeated compacting cycles. In addition, the sleeve offers no means of removing the compacted refuse from the compactor itself. Further, the shredded bag is of little help in containing the refuse after the sleeve is removed.
The invention of this application overcomes the defects of the prior art compactor receptacles and provides a simple, inexpensive, readily-constructed, and easily-maintained compactor refuse receptacle assembly.